---
title: Introduction
description: "OpenCopilot is a free and open-source tool that allows you to create AI copilots for your SaaS product. The copilot can communicate with your underlying APIs and execute calls as needed. We are open-source under MIT license and also support OpenAPI standards."
icon: "book"
---


## Getting started
Update your docs to your brand and add valuable content for the best user conversion.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
    <Card
        title="What is copilots? (start from here)"
        icon="question"
        href="ai-copilots"
    >
       Introduction to OpenCopilot. **start from here** for step-by-step guide
    </Card>
    <Card
        title="Setting up"
        icon="palette"
        href="#setting-up"
    >
        Install the project locally and make it yours
    </Card>
    <Card
        title="Create copilots"
        icon="code"
        href="api-reference/endpoint/get"
    >
        Create copilots programmatically (APIs, SDKs) or using the dashboard
    </Card>
    <Card
        title="Authentications and Authorization"
        icon="screwdriver-wrench"
        href="authorization"
    >
        Handle Authentications and Authorization to your backend
    </Card>
    <Card
        title="Embedding copilots on your app"
        icon="lightbulb"
        href="widget/embed"
    >
        How to use OpenCopilot widget and embed it on your web app
    </Card>
    <Card
        title="Creating complex flows"
        icon="rectangle-code"
        href="flows"
    >
        Learn how to use OpenCopilot flows definition
    </Card>
    <Card
        title="Roadmap"
        icon="stars"
        href="https://opencopilot.so/roadmap"
    >
        See what's coming next.
    </Card>
</CardGroup>




## Setting up

You can self-host OpenCopilot in a relatively easy way, please make sure you have the following requirements:

- Docker engine and docker compose installed
- Clone the repository

```bash
git clone https://github.com/openchatai/opencopilot.git
```

- Update your llm-server/.env with your OPENAI_API_KEY

```dotenv
OPENAI_API_KEY=YOUR_KEY_GOES_HERE
```

- Run the installation script

```bash
make install
```
Then your OpenCopilot dashboard will be accessible at http://localhost:8888


----

You also can see the complete list of commands using `make help`
```
➜  OpenCopilot git:(main) make help
Usage: make [target]

Available Targets:

  install            - Install and set up the Docker environment
  db-setup           - Set up the database (fresh migration with seeding)
  down               - Stop and remove all containers
  exec-backend      - Access the backend container's shell
  exec-dashboard    - Access the dashboard container's shell
  exec-llm-server   - Access the llm-server container's shell
  restart            - Restart all containers
  logs               - Show container logs

  help               - Display this help message
```

-----

Complete list of links:

- http://localhost:8888/backend -> backend APIs (create, update, delete and validate copilots)
- http://localhost:8888 or http://localhost:8888/dashbaord -> dashboard (UI to do the same)


